Review: Harbor Moon

Habor Moon is the story of a man, Timothy Vance, who receives a mysterious call from his supposed long lost father. Intrigued, he takes a trip out to Harbor Moon, Maine, only to find that no such father exists.

This turns out to be the least of his problems when he finds himself lost in a town that does not take kindly to strangers. Struggling to survive in order to uncover the mystery about his father, Timothy inadvertently stumbles upon a secret that the town fights to conceal.

Discovering a link between his past and the town’s history, Timothy realizes that he shares more than he cares to with the town’s citizens.

Co-written by Ryan Colucci and Dikran Ornekian, and art by Pawel Sambor, ‘Habor Moon’ is a unique take on an old subject – werewolves. I personally love the genre and think the writers have provided an interesting backdrop and plenty of characters to tell quite a tale.

With that said, the most problematic aspect to this comic is the art. I found that the “impressionistic” style of the artist failed on almost every single page. Don’t get me wrong, I love the work of Ben Templesmith and Brett Weldele, two artists that display a similar style. But Pawel Sambor’s funky proportions, awkward perspectives, and the inability to draw characters consistently from panel to panel, became overwhelming disorienting.

Dozens of pages lacked coherent layouts, causing my eye to constantly wander out of pure confusion. Fortunately the dialogue served as an anchor which helped steer the story along, but the lettering was cartoonish at best. It’s not a good sign when the viewer can’t determine what is happening without word balloons.

All in all, I found that the story was well developed, enough to allow me to finish reading it, and dismiss my issues with the artwork. I know first hand how difficult it can be for a comic book writer to not only find a good artist, but a committed one as well. I respect the fact that ‘Harbor Moon’ found a home at Arcana publishing. This certainly would not be a comic I’d recommend to the mainstream crowd, but the indie crowd will undoubtedly have an audience for this book.